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1978 In British Television
This is a list of British television related events from 1978. Events January *2 January – The first episode of the science fiction series ''Blake's 7'' is broadcast on BBC1. *4 January – The first edition of the arts series ''The South Bank Show'' is broadcast, presented by Melvyn Bragg and replaces ''Aquarius''. *8 January – '' All Creatures Great and Small'' debuts on BBC1. *20 January – The first of ITV's occasional ''An Audience With'' programmes is aired. The first presenter is Jasper Carrott. *21 January **The sci-fi TV series '' Logan's Run'' is shown on ITV. **The ITV variety and sketch series ''The Les Dawson Show'' is first broadcast. *27 January – In an interview for Granada Television's ''World in Action'', Leader of the Opposition Margaret Thatcher remarks, "people are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture". Critics regard the comment as a veiled reference to people of colour, thus pandering ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Television
Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection of free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channelsTaking the base Sky EPG TV Channels. A breakdown is impossible due to a) the number of platforms, b) duplication of services, c) regional services, d) part time operations, and e) audio. For the Sky platform alone, there are basically 485 TV channels, additionally 57 "timeshifted versions", 36 HDTV versions, 42 regional TV options, 81 audio channels, and 5 promotion channels as of mid-2010 for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are six main channel owners who are responsible for most material viewed. There are 27,000 hours of domestic content produced a year, at a cost of £2.6 billion.Taki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armchair Thriller
''Armchair Thriller'' is a British television drama series broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980 in two seasons. Taking the form of a sequence of unconnected serials, scripts for ''Armchair Thriller'' were adaptations of published novels and stories. Although not strictly a horror series, it did sometimes include supernatural elements. ''Armchair Thriller'' was mainly produced by Thames Television, but it included two serials from Southern Television. The format was of 25-minute episodes broadcast twice-weekly, usually screened on a Tuesday or Thursday between 8 pm and 9 pm. Overview The opening titles consisted of a shadow-figure walking to an armchair and then sitting down, accompanied by music composed by Andy Mackay of pop group Roxy Music. Some trailers for the series showed the same armchair soaked in blood and a screaming, maniacal face; these received criticism from those who considered them too horrific for pre- watershed viewing. For ''Armchair Thriller'' broadcasts Tham ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Lawson
Mark Gerard Lawson is an English journalist, broadcaster and author. Specialising in culture and the arts, he is best known for presenting the flagship BBC Radio 4 arts programme ''Front Row (radio programme), Front Row'' between 1998 and 2014.Padraic Flanaga"Mark Lawson to leave BBC show 'for personal reasons'" ''The Daily Telegraph'', 5 March 2014 He is also a ''The Guardian, Guardian'' columnist, and presented ''Mark Lawson Talks To...'' on BBC Four from 2006 to 2015. Life and career Born in Hendon, north London,"Mark Lawson to leave BBC's Front Row" BBC News, 5 March 2014 Lawson was raised in Leeds, where his father was a marketing director for the Civil Service (United Kingdom), Civil Service and British Telecom. Both of his parents originated from the northeast of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Law & Order (UK TV Series)
''Law & Order'' (often referred to as ''Law and Order'') is a British television crime drama series, comprising four connected plays written by G. F. Newman and directed by Les Blair, which was first transmitted on 6 April 1978 on BBC Two. Each of the four stories within the series were told from a different perspective, including that of the Detective, the Villain, the Brief and the Prisoner. The series was highly controversial upon its release due to its depiction of a corrupt British law enforcement and legal system.Newman, G.F. Television interview with Mark Lawson. Mark Lawson Talks to... G.F. Newman'. United Kingdom: BBC Four. Accessed 3 April 2018 In 2009, G.F. Newman stated that he considered "90% of police to be corrupt at the time, and that there has been no significant change since then." For the series' thirtieth anniversary in April 2008, it was released on a limited edition DVD via 2, Entertain. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Play For Today
''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were (with a few exceptions noted below) between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration. A handful of these plays, including '' Rumpole of the Bailey'', subsequently became television series in their own right. History The strand was a successor to ''The Wednesday Play'', the 1960s anthology series, the title being changed when the day of transmission moved to Thursday to make way for a sport programme. Some works, screened in anthology series' on BBC2, like Willy Russell's ''Our Day Out'' (1977), were repeated on BBC1 in the series. The producers of ''The Wednesday Play'', Graeme MacDonald and Irene Shubik, transferred to the new series. Shubik continued with the series until ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rumpole Of The Bailey
''Rumpole of the Bailey'' is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, often underdogs. The TV series led to the stories being presented in other media, including books and radio. The "Bailey" of the title is a reference to the Central Criminal Court, the "Old Bailey". Characters Horace Rumpole While certain biographical details are slightly different in the original television series and the subsequent book series, Horace Rumpole has a number of definite character traits that are constant. First and foremost, he loves the courtroom. Despite attempts by his friends and family to get him to move on to a more respectable position for his age, such as a Queen's Counsel (QC) or a Circuit Judge (positions Rumpole sarcastically calls "Queer Customers" and "Circus Judges"), he only enjoys defending his clients (who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennies From Heaven (TV Series)
''Pennies from Heaven'' is a 1978 BBC musical drama serial written by Dennis Potter. The title is taken from the song " Pennies from Heaven" written by Johnny Burke and Arthur Johnston. It was one of several Potter serials (another being ''The Singing Detective'') to mix the reality of the drama with a dark fantasy content, and the earliest of his works where the characters burst into extended performances of popular songs. Overview Hoskins became an established actor in the United Kingdom following his role in this serial. The serial was directed by Piers Haggard and produced by Potter collaborator Kenith Trodd. The series also featured Nigel Havers as Conrad Baker (the suave salesman), Jenny Logan as Irene (Joan's friend), Freddie Jones as Mr. Warner (Eileen's headmaster), Michael Bilton as Eileen's dad, Will Stamp as the Barman, Tudor Davies as the cafe customer (Davies was also choreographer for the series), and Peter Bowles as the Prosecuting Counsel. ''Pennies'' was the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Singing Detective'' (1986), and the BBC television plays '' Blue Remembered Hills'' (1979) and '' Brimstone and Treacle'' (1976). His television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social, and often used themes and images from popular culture. Potter is widely regarded as one of the most influential and innovative dramatists to have worked in British television. Born in Gloucestershire and graduating from Oxford University, Potter initially worked in journalism. After standing for parliament as a Labour candidate at the 1964 general election, his health was affected by the onset of psoriatic arthropathy which necessitated Potter to change career and led to him becoming a television dramatist. He began with contributions to BBC1's regular serie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite
''Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite'' is a concert starring Elvis Presley that took place at the Honolulu International Center and was broadcast live via satellite to audiences in Asia and Oceania on January 14, 1973. The show was presented with a delay in Europe. In the United States, to avoid a programming conflict with Super Bowl VII and ''Elvis on Tour'' which was playing in cinemas at the time, NBC opted to air a ninety-minute television special of the concert on April 4. Presley returned to performing tours throughout the United States in 1970. Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China inspired Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, to promote a live broadcast concert featuring the singer and he arranged a deal with RCA Records and the NBC network to produce one. The show benefited the Kui Lee Cancer Fund. Marty Pasetta produced the program. A filmed rehearsal concert took place on January 12. The show earned good ratings in the countries targeted by the live br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a civil rights movement, transformative era in race relations, led him to both great success and Cultural impact of Elvis Presley#Danger to American culture, initial controversy. Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old. His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African-American music to a wider audience. Presley, on rhythm acoustic guitar, and accompanied by lead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Stanley Fletcher
Norman Stanley Fletcher, commonly nicknamed "Fletch", is the main fictional character in the BBC sitcom ''Porridge'', and the spin-off, ''Going Straight''. He was played by Ronnie Barker. In the pilot episode, Fletcher claims to Mr Barrowclough that he was sentenced for stealing a lorry which then crashed through garden walls and a tool-shed when its brakes failed. This turns out to be a shaggy dog story leading up to the punchline "I asked for six other fences to be taken into consideration". In other episodes it is stated that he was sentenced for breaking and entering and that he is a career burglar. His tactics range from the practical (stealing pills from the prison doctor and eggs from the prison farmyard), to the symbolic (finding new and imaginative ways to stick two fingers up at Mackay and get away with it). In return, Mackay's frenzied, neurotic attempts to catch Fletcher out, when fruitful, give the warder a level of smugness and satisfaction that is only accentuate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George Barker (25 September 1929 – 3 October 2005) was an English actor, comedian and writer. He was known for roles in British comedy television series such as '' Porridge'', ''The Two Ronnies'', and ''Open All Hours''. Barker began acting in Oxford amateur dramatics whilst working as a bank clerk, having dropped out of higher education. He moved into repertory theatre with the Manchester Repertory Company at Aylesbury and decided he was best suited to comic roles. He had his first success at the Oxford Playhouse and in roles in the West End including Tom Stoppard's ''The Real Inspector Hound''. During this period, he was in the cast of BBC radio and television comedies such as ''The Navy Lark''. He got his television break with the satirical sketch series ''The Frost Report'' in 1966, where he met future collaborator, Ronnie Corbett. He joined David Frost's production company and starred in ITV shows. After rejoining the BBC, Barker achieved signific ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
